Quotes by famous people, credited to who said them. Your own quotes must not match any of these. More are added all the time. 1,161,747 quotes Who coined it · How we decide
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“If you hear a voice within you saying, "You are not a painter," then by all means paint, boy, and that voice will be silenced, but only by working. He who goes to trends and tells his troubles when he feels like that loses part of his manliness, part of the best that's in him; your friends can only be those who themselves struggle against it, who raise your activity by their own example of action.”
Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Quote in his letter from Drenthe, The Netherlands, Oct. 1883, 'Van Gogh's Letters',
“Never explain — your friends do not need it and your enemies will not believe you anyhow.”
Elbert Hubbard (1856–1915) first seen 1907 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Motto Book (1907)
“If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies.”
Moshe Dayan (1915–1981) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Newsweek (17 October 1977)
“I have great faith in fools — self-confidence my friends will call it.”
Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) said by 1849 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“But I know, my friends, that you may object to me what St. Irenaeus says.”
Martin Joseph Routh (1755–1854) said by 1854 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Said to his congregation after an exposition of his own theology; quoted in Essays and addresses, Herbert McLachlan, Manchester University Press, 1954, p. 354
“It is moreover to weaken in those who profess this Religion a pious confidence in its innate excellence and the patronage of its Author; and to foster in those who still reject it, a suspicion that its friends are too conscious of its fallacies to trust it to its own merits.”
James Madison (1751–1836) said by 1836 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Oh all the money that in my whole life I did spend Be it mine right or wrongfully I let it slip gladly past the hands of my friends To tie up the time most forcefully”
“All I really want to do is, baby, be friends with you.”
“My so-called friends have fallen under a spell: they look me squarely in the eye and say, "Well; all is well.”
“I can write no more today. The contemplation of my sorry state has reduced me to so deep a melancholy that I contemplate opening my wrist like Petronius Arbiter and lapsing quietly into oblivion. Unlike Petronius, however, I shall have neither the sound of music nor the gentle talk of friends. I still have time to choose a better moment — besides, who knows to what nightmares I might awake.”
Morris West (1916–1999) said by 1999 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“To those who scare peace-loving people with phantoms of lost liberty, my message is this: Your tactics only aid terrorists, for they erode our national unity and diminish our resolve. They give ammunition to America's enemies, and pause to America's friends. They encourage people of good will to remain silent in the face of evil.”
John Ashcroft (born 1942) first seen 2001 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Testimony to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee (6 December 2001)
“The American people await action. They didn't send us here to bicker. They ask us to rise above the merely partisan. "In crucial things, unity" — and this, my friends, is crucial.”
George H. W. Bush (1924–2018) said by 2018 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Amity itself can only be maintained by reciprocal respect, and true friends are punctilious equals.”
Herman Melville (1819–1891) said by 1891 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“There's basically two principles that define the Bush Administration policies: stuff the pockets of your rich friends with dollars, and increase your control over the world. Almost everything follows from that. If you happen to blow up the world, well, you know, it's somebody else's business. Stuff happens, as Rumsfeld said.”
Noam Chomsky (born 1928) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Interview by Geov Parrish, December 23, 2005 .
“One does not make peace with one's friends. One makes peace with one's enemy.”
Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995) first seen 1993 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: On the road to peace, December 1993
“A stately frontispiece of poor Adorns without the open door: Nor less the rooms within commends Daily new furniture of friends. The House was built upon the place Only as for a mark of grace; And for an inn to entertain Its lord a while, but not remain.”
Andrew Marvell (1621–1678) said by 1678 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I hated Kerner, and one day I met him and we became friends. He was young and gloriously melancholy because his spirits were so high and life had so much in store for him. Yes, he was almost riotously sad. That was his youth. When a man begins to be hilarious in a sorrowful way you can bet a million that he is dyeing his hair.”
O. Henry (1862–1910) said by 1910 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My friends are my "estate." Forgive me then the avarice to hoard them.”
Emily Dickinson (1830–1886) first seen 1858 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Letter to Samuel Bowles (August 1858 or 1859); Thomas H. Johnson (ed.) The Letters of Emily Dickinson (1958) p. 338, no. 193
“The true beloveds of this world are in their lover's eyes lilacs opening, ship lights, school bells, a landscape, remembered conversations, friends, a child's Sunday, lost voices, one's favorite suit, autumn and all seasons, memory, yes, it being the earth and water of existence, memory.”
Truman Capote (1924–1984) said by 1984 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Old acquaintances are better than new friends.”
Madame du Deffand (1696–1780) said by 1780 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“A slave is one who must produce wealth for another," the Brain said. "There is only one true wealth in all the universe. I have given you some of it. I have given your father and your mate some of it. And your friends. This wealth is living time. Time. Are we slaves because we have given you more time to live?”
Frank Herbert (1920–1986) said by 1986 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The friends that have it I do wrong Whenever I remake a song Should know what issue is at stake, It is myself that I remake.”
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) first seen 1908 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The Collected Works in Verse and Prose of William Butler Yeats, II, preliminary poem (1908)
“We have lit upon the gentle, sensitive mind And lost the old nonchalance of the hand; Whether we have chosen chisel, pen or brush, We are but critics, or but half create, Timid, entangled, empty and abashed, Lacking the countenance of our friends.”
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“‘Fair and foul are near of kin, And fair needs foul,’ I cried. ‘My friends are gone, but that’s a truth Nor grave nor bed denied.'”
William Butler Yeats (1865–1939) said by 1939 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“My friends, judge me by the enemies I have made.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) first seen 1932 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech made on the campaign trail in Portland, Oregon (21 September 1932)
“Yes, we are on our way back — not just by pure chance, my friends, not just by a turn of the wheel, of the cycle. We are coming back more soundly than ever before because we are planning it that way. Don't let anybody tell you differently.”
Franklin D. Roosevelt (1882–1945) first seen 1935 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speech at the Citadel (23 October 1935)
“It is impossible to pursue a successful literary career and follow the advice of all one's 'best friends'. I feel compelled to follow the light which my own intellect & judgement cast upon my way, rather than any one of the many conflicting rays which other minds would lend me.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) first seen 1883 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: From Preface to Poems of Passion 1883 edition
“Rejoice, and men will seek you; Grieve, and they turn and go. They want full measure of all your pleasure, But they do not need your woe. Be glad, and your friends are many; Be sad, and you lose them all. There are none to decline your nectared wine, But alone you must drink life's gall.”
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919) said by 1919 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am not so much afraid of death, as ashamed thereof; 'tis the very disgrace and ignominy of our natures, that in a moment can so disfigure us that our nearest friends, Wife, and Children stand afraid and start at us.”
Thomas Browne (1605–1682) said by 1682 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Friends of my youth, a last adieu! haply some day we meet again; Yet ne'er the self-same men shall meet; the years shall make us other men.”
Richard Francis Burton (1821–1890) said by 1890 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Is it not absurd when a human being tries to find happiness somewhere outside himself, and thinks that wealth and birth and the influence of friends...is of the utmost importance?”
Julian (emperor) first seen 1913 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Oration to the Uneducated Cynics (tr. W. C. Wright, ii, 1913)
“Men created civilization only to impress their girl friends”
Orson Welles (1915–1985) first seen 1977 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Attributed to Welles in Ebony magazine (August 1977).
“Job endured everything — until his friends came to comfort him, then he grew impatient.”
Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) first seen 1849 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 1849
“To live among friends is the primary essential of happiness.”
William Thomson (1825–1907) first seen 1846 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Lord Kelvin's Replies to Addresses given on the Celebration of the Jubilee of his Professorship (June 15-17, 1896). Quoted in Lord Kelvin, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Glasgow 1846-1899 (1899) by…
“Darling,” she drawled, “won’t that be rather tiresome? If any misfortunes happen to my friends I always drop them at once! It sounds heartless, but it saves such a lot of trouble later!”
Agatha Christie (1890–1976) said by 1976 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was enemies one wanted, not friends.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Old Madame du Deffand and her friends talked for fifty years without stopping. And of it all, what remains? Perhaps three witty sayings.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“For I am more selves than Neville thinks. We are not simple as our friends would have us to meet their needs. Yet love is simple.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Among the tortures and devastations of life is this then — our friends are not able to finish their stories.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Things have dropped from me. I have outlived certain desires; I have lost friends, some by death... others through sheer inability to cross the street.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our friends, how seldom visited, how little known — it is true; and yet, when I meet an unknown person, and try to break off, here at this table, what I call “my life”, it is not one life that I look back upon; I am not one person; I am many people; I do not altogether know who I am — Jinny, Susan, Neville, Rhoda, or Louis; or how to distinguish my life from theirs.”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) said by 1941 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Our patience wore rather thin. Visitors do tend to chafe one, though impeccable as friends. L. and I discussed this. He says that with people in the house his hours of positive pleasure are reduced to one; he has I forget how many hours of negative pleasure; and a respectable margin of the acutely unpleasant. Are we growing old?”
Virginia Woolf (1882–1941) first seen 1918 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: 5 April 1918
“Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives and there is darkness everywhere and I do not quite know what to tell you and how to say it. Our beloved leader Bapu as we called him, the Father of the Nation, is no more.”
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“You know that I have had strong leanings towards Communism and have many friends among Communists.”
Jawaharlal Nehru (1889–1964) said by 1964 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Sir Wilfred Laurier (Prime Minister) – “one of the truest and strongest characters to be met within Canadian history. He was endowed with a warm heart and a copious and rich fancy, though veiled by a somewhat reticent exterior, and he was of friends the most tender and true.” (Buckingham and Ross 1892, p.633)”
Alexander Mackenzie (1822–1892) said by 1892 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“Don't let me die in an automobile I wanna lie in an open field Want the snakes to suck my skin Want the worms to be my friends Want the birds to eat my eyes As here I lie The clouds fly by”
Jim Morrison (1943–1971) first seen 1968 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: The End; Live in New York" (1970), "The End; Live at The Hollywood Bowl" (1968)
“I will not go Prefer a feast of Friends To the Giant family”
Jim Morrison (1943–1971) said by 1971 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“It was not a fashionable place, but even among the pleasant people there, the girls made few friends, preferring to live for one another.”
Louisa May Alcott (1832–1888) said by 1888 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I am a big believer that you have to nourish any relationship. I am still very much a part of my friends' lives and they are very much a part of my life. A First Lady who does not have this source of strength and comfort can lose perspective and become isolated.”
Nancy Reagan (1921–2016) first seen 2005 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in Winning with People : Discover the People Principles That Work for You Every Time (2005) by John C. Maxwell, p. 186
“That is not a conservative position, my friends. My politics have not changed. But I am reacting to politics that have. And this is yet another example of how the woke invert the very thing that used to make the liberals liberal. Snitches and bitches? That's not being liberal.”
Bill Maher (born 1956) wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source